Saturday, October 14, 2006

Taking the fight to Canada

I had to laugh at Debbie Stabenow's most recent campaign ad. It goes along with other recent liberal efforts to demonize people for political gain.

The ad focuses on the "issue" of Canadian trash. It attacks Mike Bouchard for what he supposedly did concerning the issue, and contrasts this with what Stabenow supposedly did in Washington. I don't know about the truth of the specific claims, though given the source, I strongly suspect that they aren't true.

What cracked me up was the line that after Republican wouldn't act, Stabenow "took the fight directly to Canada and got something done."

Took the fight to Canada!

Well, Blame Canada!It seems that everything's gone wrongsince Canada came alongBlame Canada! Blame Canada!They're not even a real country anyway....The smut we must stopThe trash we must smashLaughter and fun must all be undoneWe must blame them and cause a fussBefore somebody thinks of blaming us!

What do liberals have against Canada? Isn't Canada the northern wonderland with socialized medicine, "gay marriage," and gun control that liberals are always trying to foist on us?

Recently I heard a Democratic operative say that they would focus on issues that affect people's lives, like Canadian trash. How does Canadian trash affect your life? With all the caterwauling from liberals like Stabenow, you'd think that people were being buried alive under mountains of Canadian trash.

As far as I know, Canadian trash isn't any different from American trash. Trash isn't a good thing, but it can be managed efficiently in our free market system. We bury it in landfills designed to prevent any environmental damage. When they are full, they are capped, and can be used as parks or golf courses. It's not as if we're running out of land.

The irony here is that liberals are setting themselves in opposition to Canadian environmental regulations. The ridiculous government regulations in Canada are the reason that it is more cost-effective to drive hundreds of miles to Michigan than dispose of trash locally.

The fact is that trash-hauling is a part of our economy. Banning Canadian trash imports would result in hundreds of lost jobs. It's pretty ironic that liberals are touting every hundred jobs here and there while simultaneously advocating banning hundreds more jobs. The Canadian regulations are wrong; but they hurt Canada, not America.

Once again, liberals use demagoguery to advance their political fortunes.

2 things...First, one of the oldest electoral politics tricks is the use of the "deciding vote" rhettoric. Stabenow uses it here when she says that Mike Bouchard cast the deciding vote to allow Canadian trash into the US. If there is a vote that passes by one vote, anyone on the winning side could be considered the deciding vote. Not only that, but bills have to pass both houses, do they not? So who was the deciding vote in the House? It's not like Bouchard ran onto the Senate floor and cast a vote with moments to spare. I hope the Michigan electorate realizes this.Second, as much as we all hate it, trash is a commodity protected by NAFTA. The city of Toronto has a deal worked out with a private dump just outside of Detroit. If the Michigan government or the federal government tries to intervene, Canada can bring a complaint against us for violating NAFTA stipulations. In other words, Stabenow is very misleading with her ad. Nothing new here...